Abstract:
Equine Piroplasmosis (EP) is an infectious disease caused by the hemoprotozoan parasites
Theileria equi, Babesia caballi, and the recently identified species T. haneyi. Hereby, we used a multiplex
PCR (mPCR) targeting the 18S rRNA gene of T. equi and B. caballi for the simultaneous detection of EP
in Egyptian equids and examined the presence of T. haneyi infections in Egypt. Blood samples from
155 equids (79 horses and 76 donkeys) collected from different governorates of Egypt were examined
by mPCR and PCR targeting T. hayeni. The mPCR method revealed a prevalence of T. equi of 20.3%
in horses and of 13.1% in donkeys and a prevalence of B. caballi of 1.2% in horses. B. caballi was not
detected in donkeys in the current study. The mPCR method also detected coinfections with both
species (2.5% and 1.3% in horses and donkeys, respectively). Additionally, we report the presence
of T. haneyi in Egypt for the first time in 53.1% of the horse and 38.1% of the donkey tested samples.
Coinfection with T. haneyi and T. equi was found in 13.5% of the samples, while infection with the
three EP species was found in 1.9% of the samples.
